Raise your hand if you predicated J.P. Arencibia to lead the Jays, let alone the AL in HR at this point in the season… Waiting, waiting. Yeah, it’s safe to say that nobody saw this coming.
What’s different? For starters, Arencibia’s is having early success this season by using the entire ballpark.
In 2012, he liked to pull damn near everything. Here’s a chart of his HR:
And here’s a busy chart of his singles, doubles, fly outs and line outs. (see Graphic for corresponding colour values):
Fast forward to this season and Arencibia’s 2013 HR chart:
And 2013 singles, doubles, fly outs and line outs.
That’s the plus; he’s using all fields and launching HR. The negative is an atrocious 28 K vs 1 BB rate in only 73 PA. Clearly a balancing act needs to be reached between Arecibia’s new found approach and his overall contact rate. Yet another interesting development to watch throughout this roller coaster 2013 season.
